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Launched in 2007, Teach For All marks its 10th Anniversary this year. In the decade since our founding, we’ve grown to become a global network of independent organizations united by our core purpose—to develop collective leadership to ensure all children have the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

In this report we celebrate the progress each network partner is making in their countries, the powerful lessons we have learned from one another, and the journey ahead as we work toward our vision for the future.

A recent study demonstrates that participating in Teach For America significantly builds participants’ empathy for disadvantaged communities and has a lasting impact on their mindsets around educational equity.

Principal and alumnus Joe Manko envisions Liberty Elementary as a school that works “hand in hand with the community.” Thanks to the significant commitment of local volunteers, Liberty provides multi-generational after-school programming and services that include a community-run food pantry. This deep partnership between families, school, and community is collective leadership in action.

Teach First training was graded ‘outstanding’ in 41 out of 48 categories assessed in its most recent Ofsted inspection. Last year, 99% of its teachers completing their first year achieved ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ in their qualified teacher status grade.

In a recent strategy document, the Ministry of Education credited Noored Kooli with making the education system more flexible, innovative and diverse. The former chancellor of the Ministry also credited Noored Kooli with changing the understanding of what is possible among those in the education system.

Alumni School Leaders are Having a Positive Impact

Priit Jõe is a school principal running Muraste Primary School. Within the first year of leading the school he was selected as the Principal of the Year for his county. There are two other principals and seven assistant principals among Noored Kooli alumni.

Mission Possible is a respected voice in national policy-making, and is involved in three government working groups: on teaching standards, measuring teacher quality, and teacher preparation programs. Twenty alumni are working in the group skola2030.lv to redesign the curriculum for the Ministry of Education.

Alumna Agnese Slišāne inspired and supported two students in her economics class to create their own rain coat production company. They won multiple competitions, including the International Junior Achievement competition in Switzerland. (Note this article is in Latvian.)

Farah Mhanna teaches in a school located within an orphanage. Many of her students’ family members are routinely involved in armed conflict or have been injured or killed by gunfire. After gaining each other's trust, Farah and her students made a video about their lives and experiences.

As a participant, Mohamad Alameh initiated a Robotics Club, with the aim of driving students to become innovators, researchers, and creators, while also empowering them to take leadership roles in the club.

A 2010 Inter-Ameican Development Bank study suggests a positive correlation between students being taught by Enseña Chile participants and those students' results on Spanish and Math tests, as well as students' self-esteem and self-efficacy.

Enseña Chile alumnus Tomás Despouy founded Panal in 2014, which aims to develop students’ leadership. Panal now has reached more than 1,100 students, leading more than 200 student projects in more than 50 schools, and has expanded to establish other national Panal adaptations led by Network Alumni in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Perú.

InnovatED is an incubator for entrepreneurs from Teach For India who are working to create educational equity. The 8-month program will support entrepreneurs to establish organizations that meet the diverse needs of children.

Little Voices, Big Ideas

Teach For India is putting student leadership at the center of its work, and the Little Voices, Big Ideas series is just one example of this. In this episode, Alifiya and Sallauddin discuss child labour and talk about inspiring examples of children fighting for their rights.

Working in many of the most isolated rural communities in China; over the last 9 years we’ve grown from a tiny non-profit placing 15 fellows in Yunnan to a leading organisation. We’ve supported over 1,500 fellows and reached over 330,000 students in 220 elementary and middle schools, across five provinces. Here, our CEO & founder, Andrea Pasinetti, introduces stories of our fellows, students, partner schools, parents, local communities and supporters – all of whom are impacted by TFC. Each day our fellows lead students to achieve academic success, revamping libraries, building positive mind-sets to set students up for a brighter future.

Dr. Maja Lasic taught in the program’s first cohort. She made a stark career shift from her then career in biochemistry, motivated by her experience as a refugee in Germany and a desire to give back. She is now an elected member of the Berlin parliament for the Social Democratic Party.

This video highlights the ecosystem of education leadership Enseña Perú is working to create, beginning with a student’s transformational experience in the classroom through the collective leadership of alumni working in the Ministry of Education.

A Vision Shared with Communities and Parents

Alumni Miguel Nique Morales and Lali Zevallos allowed the assets and perspectives of their community to guide their work and lead to a shared vision. This asset-based approach grew to a new level in the Ancash region, where the focus is on building shared vision with rural communities.

Neta and a team of teachers implemented a new multidisciplinary cluster approach. A statement of grade-level goals was defined with joint accountability for all students. By the end of the year, 75% of students and all teachers favored continuing. The whole school was inspired.

Alumni and Echoing Green Fellows Justin Matthys and Richard Wilson created MathsPathway, a data-driven Learning & Teaching Model that is more than doubling the average growth rate of Australian students. Since starting in one school in 2013, Maths Pathway is now in 170+ schools, working with almost 2,000 teachers and 35,000 students.

Enseña por Argentina students led extracurricular activities within their school and flexed their social-emotional skills by developing a radio program and writing a book. (Note the video is in Spanish.)

Alumnus Emo Kadiyski co-founded Vratsa Software Community in one of the poorest regions of Bulgaria, in order to provide quality technical education through coding courses and events. The company’s mission is to help Vratsa—where Emo grew up—evolve into a regional technology hub.

Each year, Teach For Bulgaria engages in the Transformed Students Inquiry Process (TSIP) to inspire and learn from student progress. In June, students present their projects to teachers, principals, and even the country’s president. The conference is planned and led by students with support from teachers.

Alumnus Quim Sabria is one of the four founders of EDpuzzle, a video editing and analytics application to help teachers engage students and track progress. EDpuzzle’s vision is that by 2020 every student and teacher will be a “click away” from access to an excellent education in their own language.

Giving Students a Growth Mindset

Empieza por Educar redesigned their teacher training to give students ownership of their learning, with the teacher there to facilitate that learning. This approach provided ExE participants with new tools to foster a growth mindset.

As of 2015, 74% of alumni are working in education in Colombia, six alumni are working in the public sector, and 31% of alumni are working in organizations including Co-School, Kidu, Volunteers Colombia, and others. (Note the page is in Spanish.)

In Vichada, Enseña por Colombia staff and participants, along with local teachers, students, and parents, sat down with representatives from the department of education to create a vision for intercultural education.

Three alumni launched More Than One Perspective, an organization that helps refugees with university degrees find work in Austria. In early 2017, they received a grant through the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Integration and the European Union to support their second cohort of refugees.

Seven students taught by Teach For Malaysia alumni presented their own innovations in Silicon Valley, California, as part of the Digital Maker Global Exchange program, a joint-initiative with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and the Ministry of Education of Malaysia.

New Zealand Education Minister Nikki Kaye pledged $5.2 million over the next four years to expand the work of Teach First NZ. “This funding is part of the Government’s drive to strengthen the teaching profession,” said Ms. Kaye.

This report, evaluating the Teach First NZ Programme by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER), shows the Programme has achieved “Well”, “Very Well” or “Extremely Well” in 16 out of 18 evaluative focus areas.

Three Teacher Fellows founded the Del Carmen Youth Club in their school community, and it has performed across their region. Presenting musicals in both English and Filipino, the Club and its founders have prompted praise from the mayor and a proposal to build an arts high school in the area.

Coordinates for Life, a program run in partnership between Teach For The Philippines and Coca-Cola FEMSA, has made it possible for TFP to directly coach over 5,500 students and their families, as well as 3,000 public school educators, on life skills, especially decision making.

Enseña por México alumni are leading new innovations in Mexico's education landscape. One alumni organization includes Learning One-to-One, an individualized teacher training program and curriculum tailored to students' interests and skills.

Alumni Sagendra Shrestha and Eva Manandhar collaborated to save one public school from “merging” with another, and essentially closing down due to shrinking student enrollment. As a result of their work, the school tripled in size in one year. In forming the Collaborative Schools Network, they have adopted another school and engaged another alumnus to work there. Currently five Teach For Nepal Alumni are managing three schools like this.

One of the first alumni is about to start as headteacher of a newly established school aimed at students from more vulnerable socio-economic areas. He was appointed because of his strong performance as a teacher and his prior experience in the private sector.

Meow, a participant from the second cohort, was assigned to teach a 7th grade class, 50% of whom were not able to multiply or divide basic numbers. Change has been significant; for example, a student who was even able to subtract can now divide and explain the process to her friends.

Participant Killian Simon created a daycare inside his school to provide support for teenage mothers. Although this goes beyond his core work as a teacher, this enables his students to better focus on their education. (Note this article is in French.)

Enseña Ecuador established Voces por la Educación (Voices for Education) to bring education to the forefront of the public agenda by leveraging the voices of students, teachers, and experts. It asks, what would happen if education were a priority for all of the country’s change makers? (Note this video is in Spanish.)

Students in Kevin Morán's class won the "Genius of the Universe Contest" this past January where students from various schools in Ecuador competed in topics related to critical reasoning and thinking. (Note the article is in Spanish.)

“I have learned that now it is not only about me, but about the future, the problems, the love, the friendship, the family… of my children. I have learned how important it is to have patience, to encourage someone when they are at the end of their powers or do not trust their own powers.”—Sînziana Badea, participant

Abdulrahman, a student in a partner school, gave a presentation on power point tools to new fellows during Summer Institute. His work was unique and inspirational to both fellows and staff, and he may present his work at the World Innovation Summit for Education.

Teach For Armenia participant Rudolf Harutyunyan took a student-centered approach with Mark, a boy with a challenging reputation. Together, Rudolf and Mark helped change how Mark was treated at school, not just in Rudolf's class. Today, Mark has learned to read and write, comes to class prepared, and has started making friends.

Zina, a participant, catalyzed a crowdfunding effort to raise money for her placement village to build their first-ever public park. She worked alongside parents, school leadership, students, and elderly people in the community to raise funds and support. It was a true community effort!

A participant encouraged one of his students to give a speech to the entire school. The student had been diagnosed with cognitive delay, which led others to have low expectations of him. The school community was so impressed by how well the student spoke, their perception of him and what he could accomplish changed entirely.

Maximizing the Potential of Each Student

In Panama, only 27% of students graduate from secondary school. In this video, Enseña por Panama participants reflect on what students need from their teachers in order to achieve their fullest potential, including the wisdom and energy to see each student as an important part of the country.

The Anseye Pou Ayiti team prioritizes community as the unit of change and the source of solutions. For the team in Haiti, those who have themselves experienced inequity need to be leading the movement to end it.

Students Lead at the Graduation of Participants

The first cohort of participants enjoyed a graduation ceremony led by students, who shared personal stories of how things have changed in their lives, classrooms, and communities, due to their connection with Anseye Pou Ayiti.

Romina, a participant, decided to focus her work on projects related to her students' communities, developing their ability to work independently, and improving their relationship as a group. (Note the video is in Spanish.)

Teach For Ghana participants Emily Emefa Fiankor and Wilhelmina B. Andoh-Kesson launched projects designed to build their students’ knowledge and inspire conversations about sexual and reproductive health issues. These projects highlighted the importance of empowering girls through education to help them gain the ability to navigate adolescence.

In the Volta region, where participant Dela Quarme grew up and now teaches math, most villages have no electricity, and schools lack textbooks and potable water. But he sees opening minds in his community as his life’s calling.

“… The ambition we have for our kids forces us to question every day the way we manage our classroom, the way we get our children to improve … and most importantly the way we keep motivating and bringing the best teaching to those who struggle the most….” – Marine, participant

A participant’s class of students won a competition to show off their work at a large teachers' conference. They worked endlessly in their spare time and cancelled other commitments to do the work because they were so excited about it. The City Council gave them dkr. 20.000 in recognition.

Teach For Afghanistan participant Lima Aman used her own money to purchase a fish to dissect for a lesson on fish anatomy. In addition to being successful with her class, the approach set an example for the school that is leading to more practical instruction in other classrooms.

Teach For Afghanistan participant Said Amir teaches English, a role that had been previously vacant at his school for more than three years. Moreover, his teaching methods are ensuring that a student with disabilities is able to engage in the content along with his peers.

Together with Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Teach For Ukraine developed a new pedagogical leadership program that integrates theory and practice, teacher training and leadership training, and that could be scaled in the future.

Representative Recruitment

Some Teach For Ukraine participants are from socio-economically disadvantaged communities themselves, and their experience is leading to a better understanding of the communities where they currently teach. One participant is an internally displaced person, and has been exposed to protracted displacement in light of the war in eastern Ukraine.

Students and participants rallied their school community to start a sustainability project that includes a school garden. The project has inspired a sense of responsibility and leadership in students and resulted in improved academic achievement.

Several participants have started tutoring programs in their schools that provide students a chance to study and practice for the university entrance exams. This is common in privileged communities, but rare for students of Ensina Brasil.

The stories told by these Vietnamese students illustrate the need for collective leadership that Teach For Vietnam is working to develop. These children have dreams for the future that are limited by financial needs. What if they felt the world was open to them?

Folawe Omikunle, CEO of Teach For Nigeria, is inspired by the hope she sees in communities in Lagos. As the program begins placing teachers there this fall, she believes that the hope will extend to the classroom as children's lives are transformed.

Kassaga Arinaitwe, co-founder and CEO of Teach For Uganda, explains his belief that the foundation of a great education in his context is rooted in staying in, understanding, and working for your local community. In 25 years, students in Uganda will be fulfilling their potential and innovating for their nation.

10 Years of Learning

Exchanging ideas and solutions across diverse contexts enables Teach For All partners to make progress faster.
Click on the photos below for examples of how we are learning from and with each other.

"Reimagining education must be at the center of our work."

For three days, 400 members of Teach For All’s global community joined thought-leaders in education, technology, policy, and other fields to explore why and how we need to redesign education systems and teaching methods in our countries and around the world.

"Everybody is expected to lead."

"Students are at the core of everything we do."

Teach For Malaysia's CEO reflects on realigning the organization's vision with the children at the heart of its work, after witnessing students from across the network engaging in learning and leading changes large and small.

"While context is important, knowledge and solutions are transferable."

Through their participation in Communities of Practice, alumni across the network have found that their cultural diversity and unique professional experiences are assets that help them learn more from each other wtih greater impact.

"We all have different strengths and weaknesses."

Through the Learning Differences Fellowship, representatives from 10 countries enriched each other's understanding of how to support the unique needs of every learner so that all children can reach their full potential.

"We can build it together."

Inspired by the “transformational power" of the global network, alumni across Latin America are working together to ensure that students become active participants in their education and agents of change in the world around them.

"We can make this happen."

While the leaders of two of Teach For All's newest partners were still developing their organizations, a visit with the staff, teachers, and alumni of a veteran network partner offered inspiration, affirmation, a nd a powerful sense of possibility.

"The global connectivity of the network inspires us."

Enseña por México learned to accelerate the impact of its social entrepreneurs from Teach First's Social Innovation Unit, who didn’t just offer help—they traveled to Mexico and worked alongside their Mexican colleagues, co-creating a sustainable initiative in the process.

"The fruits of building great relationships are endless."

"Our vision is our North Star."

Enspired by the work of network partners in completely different contexts, Enseña Ecuador developed a renewed vision for students, in collaboration with communities and incorporating the leadership of participants and alumni.

In 2040, communities in every part of the world are enabling all of their children to have the education, support, and opportunity to shape a better future for themselves and all of us. These communities are inspiring and informing a worldwide movement to achieve this everywhere.

A Letter From Our
CEO & Co-founder

Teach For All's CEO and Co-founder Wendy Kopp shares her reflections on the network's first 10 years and the vision that inspires the work ahead.

Communities all over the world are making progress towards our 25-Year Vision.

To make progress toward our vision, we must orient our work around developing collective leadership at the community level. This means growing the leadership of network alumni, students, parents, and other stakeholders to work together across the education ecosystem. It also means creating space to build relationships, have difficult discussions, reflect on lessons learned, increase our collective wisdom, and create a shared vision.

We are developing a significant number of extraordinary leaders who teach successfully in under-resourced communities and continue working to ensure all children have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Through expanding the network and supporting network organizations to scale, we aim to develop many leaders who can generate progress towards our vision. These leaders are working together to inspire leadership in other people, including students, parents, other educators, and community stakeholders.

All across the network, participants and alumni are ensuring students attain an excellent education that enables them to grow as leaders who will shape a better future for themselves and all of us.

To ensure students can navigate a turbulent economy and solve increasingly complex global challenges, network partners’ teachers and alumni will need to rethink student outcomes, as well as how they achieve them. The global organization will help by fostering learning from inside and outside the network about how to do this.

We are an interconnected global community of students, teachers, alumni, staff and allies who are learning from and supporting each other.

While each local context is unique, similarities in the nature of the challenges facing children from place to place mean that solutions are often shareable. We can move more quickly if we are learning from each other across borders, benefitting from the wisdom and diversity of the communities in which we work.

We are an engine for innovation and learning, sharing expertise from within and beyond our network on creating transformational progress in classrooms and communities.

We launched the Global Learning Lab to become a robust engine of learning that fuels, collects, and shares actionable insights from the innovations and wisdom of students, families, and teachers in transformational classrooms and from diverse stakeholders in communities. We design learning experiences for people around the network and beyond who are committed to progress in classrooms and communities.

We are an influential voice in the global discussion, advocating based on our diverse experiences for equity and opportunity for children.

We will advocate for our shared belief that all children should have the education, support, and opportunity they deserve. We seek to elevate the insights of the communities where our partners work to influence policies and resource allocation.

Our Core Values

We’re guided by our shared Core Values when working together across borders.

We believe in the extraordinary potential of all children and in our collective potential to realize our aspirations, and so we act with courage, boldness, urgency and perseverance in pursuit of transformational impact.

We value the enormous assets in the communities where we work, immerse ourselves in local perspectives, needs and opportunities, and work in deep partnership with students, families, educators, and community members—all while also seeking to build our understanding of what is possible based on insights from outside of our communities and countries.

We seek to ensure full participation of people from all cultures and backgrounds, and we believe those who have themselves experienced the inequities we’re working to address should guide and lead this work.